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Hempfield Township could pay almost $7 million for state police coverage under Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal — yet another attempt to collect from municipalities that rely on troopers rather than their own police department.

Hempfield is one of nearly 2,500 municipalities across Pennsylvania without a local police department.

The proposed fee is based off a sliding scale and depends on the number of residents in each community, ranging from $8 per person for a community with fewer than 2,000 residents to $166 for municipalities with more than 20,000 residents.

“This has put a strain on their ability to respond in these areas, as (state police) assume significant additional responsibility,” Wolf said in his proposal. “To address this inequity, the 2019-20 budget assesses a fee for every person residing in a municipality without local police coverage.”

This year, the goal is to add an additional 100 officers to the state police ranks. The plan is months away from being negotiated with the Pennsylvania General Assembly, which will start after the June 30 budget deadline.

In Hempfield, which has a population of 42,300 residents and is the largest Pennsylvania municipality without their own police force, the $7 million cost adds up to almost half their budget.

Hempfield Manager Jason Winters said the township supervisors would have to reopen the conversation of establishing a local department or completely rework their budget to account for the fee.

Four state police vehicles regularly patrol and respond to calls within Hempfield.

Like Hempfield, Derry Township relies on state police for coverage of 14,500 residents. Under the proposed plan, officials would have to pay over $1.68 million.

“I’m totally against it,” said Vince DeCario, township supervisor and sitting chairman. “I feel everyone pays taxes, the state taxes — that’s your help for the state police already.”

As a rural community, Derry Township should not be compared to areas like Hempfield when it comes to police coverage, DeCario said.

Unity Township and South Huntingdon also rely on state police coverage.

As the third-largest municipality in the state without a local police department, Unity would have to pay over $3.6 million for their 22,000 residents.

South Huntingdon would have to pay $42 per person for their population of 5,600 people, equating to $235,200.

Unity and South Huntingdon supervisors could not be reached for comment.

On the northern end of Westmoreland County, Oklahoma Borough has a population under 1,000 people and relies on full coverage from state police.

“We don’t really need a police force here at all,” Mayor Don Emerick said. “We don’t have that much crime. I’m not in favor of charging municipalities a fee.”

Emerick said council members could add the potential $8,000 fee into their budget, but that “it would have an impact.”

The department faced retention issues prior to the disbandment, which left them with four part-time officers and a chief for about two months. At the time of Rose’s shooting, the department was double in size and paid officers about $15 per hour.